Abstract

Despite widespread agreement on the value of interdisciplinarity, significant debate persists about its fundamental nature. We propose a frame- work to address this disagreement by drawing on ideas from philosophy of biology, particularly the work of Karola Stotz and Paul Griffiths (e.g., 2004). Our conceptual ecological approach supports a productive pluralism: a pluralism that is organized and can help to address practical issues. Within this frame- work, concepts of interdisciplinarity are viewed as tools shaped by the niches that they occupy. We illustrate this approach by providing a case study on the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative, a philosophical method for facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration. Finally, we highlight the theoretical and practical benefits of adopting a conceptual ecological approach to interdisciplinarity.